Background: Cougar has returned Ford Motor Co.'s Mercury Division on the prowl for a younger audience. Cougar, a familiar nameplate introduced in 1966 as a 1967 model year entry, until recently roamed Mercury showrooms as a mid-size, V-8-powered, rear-wheel drive luxury offering. Cougar started life as automotive twin to Ford's Mustang, later evolving into the Ford Thunderbird's sister car. Cougar's price tag back in 1967? An astounding $2,800. Both Cougar and Thunderbird temporarily went on hiatus from Ford's roster at the end of the 1997 model year with Cougar reincarnated first for the 1999 model year. Thunderbird is slated to appear again early next century. Ford currently assembles Cougar in Flat Rock, Mich. The all-new Cougar includes 1990s hatchback styling, and features scaled down exterior dimensions from the previous generation and a choice of four or six cylinder powertrains; no more V-8 engines. Plus, the compact, four-seat Cougar sports coupe is now front-wheel drive. Cougar shares the Mercury Mystique/Ford Contour mid-size automotive platform and follows Ford's commitment to develop a variety of vehicles, each appealing to different market segments, from one platform. Ford claims this strategy improves quality, reduces costs and cuts development time. Approximately 70 percent of Cougar's basic parts are common with Contour and Mystique.
Target market: The sporty 1999 Cougar, which began arriving in showrooms this past May, aims to bring a new, younger clientele into Mercury showrooms. Shoppers between the ages of 25 and 39 are the primary audience with an equal 50-50 ratio of male to female buyers. Primary automotive competitors include the Saturn coupes, Mitsubishi Eclipse and Dodge's Avenger.
Engine: Cougar offers two distinct engine choices: a 2.0-liter, 125-horsepower, 16-valve four-cylinder powertrain or a more potent 2.5-liter, 170 horsepower, 24-valve V-6. Both these engines can be found in the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique. Ford's Mercury division estimates the V-6 engine will account for 90 percent of sales
Price: Ford's Mercury Division made it a priority to keep base prices as low as possible, especially in four-cylinder editions. A four-cylinder, Cougar with manual transmission starts at $16,595. Base V-6's with five-speed manual transmission check in at $17,095; a V-6 with automatic transmission is priced at $17,910 while the top-of-the-line V-6 sport edition is $18,695. Prices are exclusive of a $400 destination charge.
Safety equipment: Dual front air bags, energy-absorbing passenger compartment and collapsible steering column come standard. Anti-lock brakes, traction control, remote keyless entry and side air bags are options. Cougar is one of the first vehicles in its segment to offer side air bags and the first Ford Motor Co. vehicle in North America with the feature.
Standard equipment: Air conditioning, intermittent front windshield wipers, power windows and doors, rear window defogger, four-wheel disc brakes and a AM/FM/cassette audio system come standard in both four and six-cylinder offerings. Leather-wrapped steering wheel, fog lamps, sport seats, cruise control and a light group come standard in V-6 Cougars and are featured as option groups in four-cylinder offerings.
Options: Power sunroof ($615), power driver's seat ($235), single-feed compact disc player (in place of the cassette player) and trunk-mounted CD changer are all optional fare. Mercury also offers an optional convenience group consisting of a rear window wiper/washer system, remote keyless entry and illuminated entry.
Interior: Four large, circular, easy-to-maneuver air vents line up along the dashboard for adjusting air distribution. Three-easy-to-grab ventilation controls monitor fan speed, direction and temperature settings and are placed above the stereo system. The stereo system includes large preset buttons, but the proximity of the floor-mounted transmission shifter to buttons and toggle switches make changing stations or adjusting volume challenging. The semi-circular instrument panel includes four round analog gauges including speedometer, tachometer, and fuel gauge readouts along with digital odometer readings. A stand-alone digital clock, also found in the instrument cluster, is a nice touch. Large, black plastic interior door handles are positioned at a 45-degree angle with side-view mirror and door lock functions in front. The grooved elbow rest is molded into the front doors. Mercury positions hood and hatch release levers near the driver's left foot. A circular dial operating the headlights is positioned on the dashboard, left of the steering wheel. Both front and rear windshield wipers activate from a right hand-side steering column stalk. Between the front bucket seats one finds a hand-operated parking brake, pop-up single beverage holder and a storage bin equipped to hold compact discs and cassette tapes. The scooped area below the parking brake is ideal for holding loose change. Back in Cougar's hatch area, the temporary spare tire houses in a well under the flat floorboard. A convenient strap allows easy lifting of the floorboard. A second strap found on the hatchback's inside makes closing the lid a bit easier. The hatch area boasts 12.4 cubic feet of space with back rests folded up.
Seating comfort: We test drove two slightly different Cougar editions, one with a sunroof and a second without. Seated in front, one encounters decent head and legroom but the sunroofed Cougar has less headroom than the edition without this option. Cougars with the power seats have controls at the front, bottom portion of the seat. Like most sporty coupes, Cougar includes a lower-to-the-ground seating position than that found in most mid-size sedans. Leather seats are optional in the V-6 Cougar Sport model only. In back, scooped-out seat cushions allow passengers to sink into position. This design, found in other coupe competitors, allows for an inch or two of extra headroom, but even with this extra excavation, anyone six-feet or taller will find their heads butting against the top. The two-seat back is best left for the pre-adolescent crowd. A nice touch are circular levers, high up on the bucket seats instead of on the floor that allow backrests to tilt forward when maneuvering into the back. Backrests include a 50/50 split for expanded storage space into the hatch area. And seatbacks fold relatively flat for hauling extra cargo.
Exterior: Cougar's sharp-looking exterior may be its best selling point. Aluminum wheels come standard while both headlights and taillights feature plastic housing that bubbles out, creating a three-dimensional effect. The 1999 Cougar's fenders are much more rounded than the previous generations, with sharp angled creases. Cougar's triangular taillamp cluster adds to its youth appeal. Sideview mirrors also incorporate a triangular design with rounded corners, for a distinctive ambience. The coupe's two doors include frameless windows and the hatchback lid/rear window is sharply angled at 45 degrees. Cougar borrows a cue from European auto manufacturers with its roof-mounted, angled, black, whip-like radio antenna. Exterior flush-mounted door handles are body colored. Fifteen-inch tires are standard fare on four-cylinder Cougars while 16-inch-tires are part of the V-6 engine offerings.
Dimensions: Wheelbase: 106.4 inches Overall width: 69.6 inches Overall length: 185.0 inches Overall height: 52.2 inches Front headroom: 37.8 inches
Fuel economy: Six-cylinder Cougars with five-speed manual transmission include fuel estimates of 22 miles per gallon city, and 29 m.p.g. highway. Five-speed, four-cylinder versions offer tad better numbers at 24 m.p.g. city and 35 m.p.g. highway. The tank holds 16 gallons of unleaded fuel. The fuel tank door does not lock, but includes a tethered cap.
Final thoughts: Cougar's back seat area is an uncomfortable fit for two adults; preteens can squeeze in but anyone over six feet gets cramped. However, most sporty two-door coupes are guilty of this same squeeze play. Sport utility popularity has cut deeply into sport coupe sales. When Ford dropped the rear-drive Thunderbird and Cougar a couple years back, industry watchers pondered how long General Motors would continue building its rear-wheel drive Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Firebird duo. While GM has no immediate plans to dismiss these two venerable nameplates, high insurance costs and market shifts have slowed the sales pace from a decade or two earlier. Mercury is banking that Cougar, with its nimble handling and good looks, strikes a chord (no pun intended) with Generation Xers eager for potent performance and front-wheel drive characteristics. Be prepared though. A decently-equipped V-6 Cougar lands in the over $20,000 price range. |